The Manchester-to-Glasgow chronicles

Your leader on biographies of roads (November 28) reminded me I had just such a book, passed down to me by my father. The Manchester and Glasgow Road by Charles G Harper was first published in 1907 by Cecil Palmer of Covent Garden. I have the second edition (1924). Much of the route in England seems to follow the A6, though I can find no mention of road numbers (when was the road numbering system introduced?).

The indefatigable Mr Harper published at last 17 other books on roads, according to the flyleaf. None seem to cover the route of the present A38, though he does cover the London-to-Holyhead road - getting two books out of that by breaking the journey in Birmingham. The Manchester-Glasgow book introduces us right away (page 2) to the "blackness" of Manchester: "There is much good modern architecture ... but a black cloak covers it all." As a student in the 60s, I was surprised to find that what I had always thought as the dark slate roof of the Owen's College building was actually red tiles when the grime of 200 years was cleaned off. Sid FewsterCrickhowell, Powys

When you say: "What about ... the failing A5, London to Holyhead", your readers may be interested in Thomas Telford's Holyhead Road - the A5 in North Wales (ISBN 1-902771-34-6), published by the Council for British Archaeology in 2003 - which excellently covers the Chirk-Holyhead section. John AshcroftSheffield

The A38 may not yet have been chronicled in print, but nobody who has heard it will forget The Exeter Bypass by 60s country band Phil Brady & the Ranchers. Graham LarkbeyLondon